Dear R J, The Keystone XL pipeline is a giant straw that spews out some of the dirtiest oil on earth. Christians have advocated tirelessly to stop the pipeline. Despite this opposition, the State Department recently released a report that claims the pipeline is “unlikely to have a substantial impact.” Where did they get their data? The oil and gas industry. [1] Tell the State Department to take a second look at the damage the Keystone XL pipeline would do to God’s creation.  Oil from tar sands releases significantly more carbon pollution than any other energy source we import, and … Continue reading Keystone Pipeline Opposition Explained….

  No slick lawyers, or income tax experts can get you out of a national sales tax. It’s so much on the dollar on every luxury you buy. Then, if you like to live in luxury, the poor fellow knows you are paying for it and he will even encourage you to buy more so it will help out the government.  November 2, 1924  Will Rogers This morning’s post was about closing tax loopholes so I thought I would continue with that thread this afternoon.  I am one that believe that a significant amount of our taxes should be raised … Continue reading About Those Taxes…..

I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. -Albert Einstein When I came across this Einstein quote it almost made me shudder. Even though I have heard it before it struck me this time.  We are advancing technologically at an astounding pace in recent years.  Integrated circuits are in just about every device we now buy. Artificial intelligence is being used for so many things today.  Unfortunately because the Pentagon budgets take the biggest bite out of our discretionary spend technology is at the forefront … Continue reading World War IV…..

I wish I knew who originally penned these words. They are inspiring indeed.     Continue reading Definite Words Of Wisdom….

Sept 2010 – Mackinac Island Continue reading Mackinac Island…

Why does the U.S. have the biggest percentage of our population in prison?  When I first heard this it somewhat surprised me. I thought surely those countries led by dictators would be higher.  Given the reputation of the Gulags in Russia why are they not higher than us? I did a little digging and it seems the answer is really not clear. But there seems to be at least a few pointers that might be part of the cause: Drug Offenses Incarceration for drug offenses has increased 12-fold from 40,000 in 1981 to nearly 500,000 by 2010, accounting for two-thirds … Continue reading The Highest Incarceration Rate… Part 2

But always remember this, that as bad as we sometimes think our government is run, it’s the best run one I ever saw.” – Will Rogers, 18 December 1932  Sometimes the ever-present trollers who come across my blog have to scream and rant for me to just get out of the country if I hate it so much. To them if anyone has any criticism of the “Good Old USA” then somehow they are traitors to the country. But their rants often have the opposite effect on me.  They tell me that I got their attention with what I was … Continue reading The Best I Ever Saw….

We in the United States have the largest percentage of our population under lock and key than any other nation on earth. Why is that. That will be the topic of the next two posts.  This time we will look at it from a time standpoint and a geographical perspective. The next post will look at the make up of the prison population to see why they are there. Let me start off this post by letting you know that I have never used any kind of illegal drugs. I did go to college in the 1960s but only smelled … Continue reading The Highest Incarceration Rate…

  Source: Rand Paul’s 13 Hour Filibuster – The Talking Kind – Against John Brennan – ABC News. “I rise today to begin to filibuster John Brennan’s nomination for the CIA, Paul said at about 11:47 a.m. ET. “I will speak until I can no longer speak. I will speak as long as it takes, until the alarm is sounded from coast to coast that our Constitution is important, that your rights to trial by jury are precious, that no American should be killed by a drone on American soil without first being charged with a crime, without first being found … Continue reading Rand Paul’s 13 Hour Filibuster….

I may no longer be an official techie (or whatever the latest term is). I haven’t bought a new “latest thing” in about 18 months. That is an eternity in the tech world!  I don’t know what has happened to me. I used to keep up on all the latest trends and often splurged for some of them. Maybe I have just finally found the stuff that makes me happy. Now that I am fully in the Apple camp (MacBook, iPad, iPhone) and now have a couple of versions of Kindle I have finally reached my tipping point of needing … Continue reading I Think I Am Losing My Technology Edge…..

How did we get into the problem of insane pay for U.S. corporation leaders? The problem basically originated from the title above. Every board of directors wants to pat themselves on the back for selecting that exception person who will lead their company to outperform all the others.  They need to do that so that they can somehow rationalize their board being paid thousands of dollars per hour for their time. So the statement is made: Our CEO is exceptional so we must guarantee him a paycheck in the top 20% of all CEOs. On the surface this is a … Continue reading Our CEO Is Exceptional So…..